Mr K Williams v British Gas-Centrica — 2021

Mr Williams, a gas engineer employed since 2002, injured his knee at work in April 2013 and later developed degenerative knee pathology. After surgery and a phased return, he remained in work until April 2018, when further assessment showed significant restrictions in kneeling, squatting, crawling, lifting and ladder work. An occupational health assessment on 24 July 2018 and a functional capacity assessment in December 2018 both concluded that he could not do the full physical demands of the Technical Engineer role, and the Respondent moved him through redeployment and capability procedures.

The Respondent dismissed him on 4 June 2019, taking the view that no reasonable adjustments could permanently remove the core physical demands of the role and that redeployment had not succeeded. The tribunal accepted that the initial dismissal decision was one a reasonable employer could have made on the information then available, given the earlier medical reports and the view that the condition was degenerative and would not improve.

The appeal changed the position. A further FCA on 21 August 2019 recorded that Mr Williams demonstrated more than adequate functional capabilities for the full physical demands of the role, subject to the risk of symptom aggravation if kneeling, squatting and similar postures were required. A further healthcare rm report dated 5 September 2019 recommended a phased return at about 60% capacity over six weeks. The tribunal held that Mr Brooks acted outside the range of reasonable responses by discounting the later reports and treating them as insufficient to alter the earlier conclusion, when the medical evidence showed a significant improvement and a return to work could be accommodated on the basis set out in the reports. The unfair dismissal claim therefore succeeded, and the judgment records that remedy issues may need a later case management hearing.